American Indian Movement

The American Indian Movement (AIM) is a Native American militant organization that was founded in Minneapolis, Minnesota in July 1968 to advocate for anti-racism and Native American civil rights. The organization emerged from the growth of a pan-American Indian identity, and it sought to advance Amerindian cultural, legal, and property claims. From 1969 to 1971, some AIM members occupied Alcatraz island in San frnacisco Bay, offering to buy the island for $24, a reference to the price that the European settlers paid for Manhattan in 1626. In 1972, AIM also occupied the Washington offices of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, as was the village of Wounded Knee in 1973. Working with President Richard Nixon, the AIM achieved numerous grants of land to native tribes and returned ancestral burial grounds, while native cultural awareness steadily increased.